How to Install the Draw-Tite Max-Frame Trailer Hitch on a 2018 Audi Q5

Speaker 1: Today on our 2015 Audi Q5, you're going to be taking a look at, and I'm going to show you how to install, the Draw-Tite Class 3 Max-Frame Trailer Hitch Receiver, part number 76183.This is what our hitch looks like when it's installed. You can see it's going to have a reinforced collar, give you a little bit extra stability on the receiver tube. It's got a nice rounded edge, so it fits with the contour of the vehicle. You can see the hitch does not stick out past of the outer edge of our bumper fascia. So we're not going to have to worry about hitting our legs or our shins on it when loading and unloading the back of the vehicle.It's going to have a nice black powder coat finish to resist any rust or corrosion. It's going to be a Class 3 hitch, it's going to be 2" by 2".

Hitch pin hole is going to be 5/8" in diameter. It's going to have rolled steel style safety chain loops to give you plenty of room for different size safety chain hooks. It's also going to have this most rear hole here, it's going to be for a J-Pin stabilization device only. And the J-Pin stabilization device can take the shake and play out of any of your hitch mount accessories. This does not come with your kit, but it can be found on our website.You're going to have a 750 pound max tongue weight, which is the downward pressure on the inside of the receiver tube.

A 5,000 pound max trailer weight, which is the trailer plus the load included. I do want to mention, you want to make sure you check the owners manual of your Audi to make sure the vehicle can withstand that amount of weight. You're going to want to choose the lowest number between the vehicle and the hitch.Now let me give you a few measurements to help you when deciding on any hitch mount accessories you may need, such as a bike rack, ball mount or cargo carrier. From the center of the hitch pin hole to the outer most part of the bumper, will be about 3". From the ground to the top inner most part of the receiver tube, will be about 15".

Now let me show you just how easy it is to get installed.First thing we need to do is, we need to remove the four torx head bolts that run across the bottom of our rear fascia. We're going to use a T25 torx bit to do that. Next, in each wheel well, you're going to see two plastic flange nuts. We're going to remove the bottom one with a 10mm socket. We're going to take our T25 torx bit, and you're going to have a torx head bolt down here in the bottom corner.Now I have determined that it is going to make it a little easier when we're removing this panel piece or trim piece on your fender, if we remove this second 10mm flange nut.

It's going to allow us to fold our wheel well liner back, because this piece is actually clipped in, and we have to use a trim panel tool to reach up to get those clips.Now our directions tell us to take a plastic trim panel tool and reach in behind here and unclip the fasteners that are holding this piece on. Then they want you to remove the three torx head bolts that are running vertical right here. However, it's easier if you remove these bolts first and then take this piece off. So, we'll take are T25 torx head bolt or torx bit, go ahead and remove those three bolts.So you'll notice two pieces of plastic here, this trim piece here is attached to this one, which when we took our three screws out, detached it from this one. You can see the difference where it's moving, what we need to do is, we need to get our trim panel tool in between the two to pop out the clips, for it to loosen them. So we're just going to gently pull out like this to separate them, and we're going to work our way up and when you find the one, you just want to push straight out on it. We'll have another one here, we'll have another one up here.Once you get up here to the top, you'll notice it's going to have some blue fasteners, all we're going to do is just pop those out. Now it's not necessary to take this fender piece all the way off, we just need to gain access to this torx bolt right here. Same torx bit, we'll go ahead and remove that bolt and then you're going to want to repeat that process on the other side.Next, we need to remove this large plastic screw on our driver's side, and we're going to have one on the passenger side. Our directions tell us that this is a T25 torx head screw, it's actually a T20, so make sure you don't use a T25, because this being plastic, you will strip that pretty easy trying to get that in there. Then will do the same thing on the passenger side.Next, we'll take a trim panel tool, and we'll slide it in on the end, and we're just going to pop up like that. We're going to do it on both sides. We're going to go in here and remove this scuff panel, so we're just going to pull up on it, slowly working our way across, 'til we get it loose. On both sides of the vehicle you're going to have a rubber plug, we're going to go ahead and remove that. It's going to give us access to two 10mm flange nuts that are inside or recessed inside, holding the bumper fascia. I'll take a 10mm socket and an extension, going to remove those two flange nuts.Next, on both sides of the vehicle, we're going to have this panel we need to remove. We're just going to twist like this, and we'll pull it off. Pull that loose and set this aside. Now, we're only going to have this power outlet on our passenger side. Driver's side you may have two wiring harnesses that are going to be located behind this insulation. But what we're trying to get, there's a round hole right down here on both sides, there's a 10mm flange nut inside of there.Not it's a good idea to have a magnet to help get those out. Hopefully, you're socket is magnetic, if not, I would suggest doing this slow with a flashlight. Getting them loosened up, all the way where they're loose, there is a head on the end of the bolt that the flange nut is on, that that nut will sit on. Just make sure when you pull your socket out, you pull it out slow, that way you can stick the magnet in and get ahold of that and pull it out.Next, we're going to remove our fascia. We're going to start by our wheel well, we're going to slowly start pulling outward, remember, lights may need to be unplugged and if you have sensors, you're going to need to unplug those too. Here on our driver side inside this panel here, you're going to have two plugs, they're going to go to the sensors and the rear lights. You want to unplug those and then we're going to have a rubber grommet here right on the outside. We're going to have to push these through there in order to completely remove the fascia. So, we're going to push in on both sides and then we're going to remove our rubber grommet.Next thing we're going to do is, we need to remove our bumper beam. We're going to use a 16mm socket and we're going to have four bolts on each side. Now we'll go ahead and remove our bumper beam and this bracket, we're going to set that aside, we will not be reinstalling that. Next we're going to take some silicone sealant and we want to go around this opening here. Then we'll do the same thing on the passenger side.Next we're going to lift the hitch into place. We want to line up this hole here with this bolt or stud that's coming out. Line up one of those on each side. Then we'll take one of our existing bolts that we removed, go ahead and put one in on each side, that will hold our hitch in place while we install the rest of our hardware.Next, we'll go ahead and tighten down our hardware. Next we'll torque our hardware to specifications in the instructions. The next thing we need to do is we need to trim this piece out right here. What we're going to do is, we're going to measure from this edge across to this edge. That's going to give us 6-1/2", which makes our center 3-1/4. Now from our center mark, we're going to go out an 1-3/4" to one side, and 1-3/4" on the other, to give us 3-1/2.One thing to keep in mind, when you are cutting this, we're just going to be using a utility knife, don't cut this cord, this is a sensor. If we can, probably would be better if we undo it, just to get it out of the way to be safe, so it looks like we pop that off like that. Take our utility knife and we'll just follow our lines. Just like that.Next, we'll go ahead and test fit our fascia, see if there's any other adjustments we need to make. Make sure you run your wiring back into the vehicle. Once we determined we don't need to make any further adjustment cuts for our hitch, we'll go ahead and reinstall our fascia and all of our hardware in reverse order from the way we took it off.That will do it for a look at and installation on the Draw-Tite Class 3 Max-Frame Trailer Hitch Receiver, part number 76183, on our 2018 Audi Q5.

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Info for this part was:

Video Edited:

Dustin K

Test Fit:

Shane H

Video by:

Jonathan Y

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